Raven | 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 08

All eyes were now on Regulus who was still trying to catch his breath with his backpack hung loosely over his shoulder.

"Well, well! Look who decided to finally show up!" Professor Kettleburn chimed mockingly. "And to what do we owe this pleasure, Mr. Black?"

      But Regulus ignored him as he rolled his eyes, putting his bag on the ground like everybody else.

      "Well, someone's a bit cranky today," Professor Kettleburn mumbled under his breath, letting out a small chuckle before going back to explaining more about unicorns.

      "Psst, Alex," Mike called her in a whisper, "what do you think is wrong with him?"

      Alexandra followed Mike's gaze, realizing that he was talking about Regulus.

      "What do you mean?" Alexandra mused in a quiet voice.

      "Use your brain, Starling! He's obviously troubled and is mad at something." Mike lowered his voice even more, saying, "Look at his foot; he's tapping it on the ground. His knuckles are turned into fists. And don't even get me started on how heavily he's breathing. He's mad at something! Hmm... What do you think?"

      "I think you should take your nose out of people's butts," Alexandra said back wittily, trying to go back to listening to the Professor.

      Mike gasped dramatically, staring down at her with his eyes wide in disbelief. "Where has this new sass come from? Who are you?"

     "I'm sorry." Alexandra giggled. "I just think you should gossip less."

       "How dare you!" Mike hissed. "This is not gossip! This is — this is me being concerned for another human being!"

      Alexandra gave him a knowing look.

      "Oh, all right!" Mike huffed in defeat. "I'm curious. Happy?"

      "What's going on over there?" Professor Kettleburn called upon them, feeling interrupted at the whispering of the two Ravenclaws.

     "She started it!" Mike suddenly said loudly, pointing childishly at Alexandra.

      "Nice try, Mr. Williams," said the Professor with a knowing grin. "Now stop chattering around and listen to the lesson. You'll distract the others."

      Alexandra gave Mike a rare mischievous smile and then winked at him as Professor Kettleburn went on with the lesson.

      The Professor then placed them all in groups to attend to the five unicorns, putting the girls mostly in charge, seeing as the unicorns felt closer to females and safer in their hands, trusting them more.

      Alexandra was the first to be able to approach a unicorn, seeing as the rest kept backing away from the students and further back into the fence, and so she was given another five points for Ravenclaw by Professor Kettleburn.

      Alexandra finally got to touch the unicorn, caressing its silver hair, but careful not to touch its horn. A broad smile was placed upon her lips and she felt like if she stared at the beautiful creature any longer, her eyes would get filled with joyful tears. So she stepped aside to let the other students in her group have their chance

      But as she took a few steps back, her eyes uncontrollably fell upon the small group of Slytherins to their left, spotting Regulus in the front who was trying to reach out for the unicorn's horn.

      "I wouldn't do that if I were you," Alexandra called out to him, causing Regulus to come to a halt right before he was about to touch the horn. "It would poke you."

      But as Regulus was busy staring at her, the next moment the unicorn hurtled its head forward and poked Regulus's arm with its horn.

      "Ouch!" Regulus winced and quickly pulled his hand back in pain, grimacing as the rest of the Slytherins in his groups sniggered.

     "I literally just said it would poke you." Alexandra giggled, repeating his own words against him.

      Regulus then grinned lightly, catching onto her joke, and so he said, "I thought you meant it figuratively."

       Alexandra suddenly felt her cheeks go red and blushed, briskly looking away from him so he wouldn't see her cheeks flushed.

      But as soon as she turned around, she caught Mike giving her a suspicious look.

      "What?" Alexandra said, throwing down her gaze.

      "What was that?" Mike asked, narrowing his eyes down at her.

       "What was what?" Alexandra tried to act oblivious, but she had always been a terrible liar.

      "What was with the giggling and the flirting and the blushing?" Mike raised a brow at her.

      "Flirting?" Alexandra repeated. "I just warned him about the unicorn attacking him. And I was right, wasn't I?"

     "If you say so..." said Mike in a dark voice, and so giving her one last suspicious glance, he turned his attention back on the unicorn.

Once Professor Kettleburn dismissed them and the class ended, Alexandra's eyes wandered toward Regulus, who had started walking out of the forest alone and away from the other Slytherins.

"I think I'm gonna go talk to him," Alexandra told Mike, but before she could take another step, he took a hold of her arm, stopping her. "What?"

Mike smiled down at her sweetly. "Do you think you can ask him what's wrong?"

"Mike!"

"What? Look, I have a feeling that this has something to do with his brother. Maybe they were fighting!" he said excitedly.

Alexandra shook her head at him in disappointment before walking toward Regulus, determined to make things right between them for some reason.

      "Hello!" Alexandra said brightly as she approached him from behind, almost making him jump.

      "Oh... it's you," Regulus said unenthusiastically, continuing to walk and so Alexandra followed him.

      "I actually came here to say —"

      "Let me guess," Regulus cut her off, a hint of a grin on his lips, "you came here to say you're sorry."

      "No." Alexandra shook her head. "You told me not to say 'sorry'."

      "Then what were you going to say?"

       "I was going to say 'I came here to apologize'!" she said wittily.

      "That's the same thing!"

      "Technically, the wording is different, so it's really not the same."

      Regulus sighed to himself. "All right. Knowing you, you wouldn't go away until your guilt is shut down. So apology accepted."

      "Great!" Alexandra exclaimed with glee. "So now we can be friends!"

      Regulus stopped walking and gaped down at her blankly before saying, "No."

      And so he turned on his heels to leave, but before he did, Alexandra could've sworn that she saw a hint of a smile upon his lips.